Hey everyone, I was wondering what you may recommend for a good classical Greek dictionary? There's a few different ones I've seen, one by James Morwood, another by Liddell-Scott, and I've heard of one by a Woodhouse (that contains a good English-Greek section). Anyways, what do you guys and gals think? Any advice? thanks!

I'm unclear about the differences between the Abridged and Intermediate versions of the Liddell-Scott dictionary, and perhaps an explanation could help Johny Ze as well.

When I was beginning Greek, I looked briefly at the Abridged (which I think is the smaller one?) and Intermediate versions very quickly at a bookstore, and decided to buy the Intermediate version, because I assumed it would be more thorough and helpful. Much later, I somewhere (maybe here on Textkit?) got the impression that the smaller version could actually be more useful.

I haven't been able to look at a copy of the Abridged version again, but the only explanation I can think of is that maybe the Intermediate version offers more root words, whereas the Abridged version lists more inflectional forms for a smaller selection of words?

swiftnicholas wrote:When I was beginning Greek, I looked briefly at the Abridged (which I think is the smaller one?)

I know them as the Little Liddell, the Middle Liddell and the Great Scott.

and Intermediate versions very quickly at a bookstore, and decided to buy the Intermediate version, because I assumed it would be more thorough and helpful. Much later, I somewhere (maybe here on Textkit?) got the impression that the smaller version could actually be more useful.

It depends on your focus. It's much easier to carry the Little Liddell, and is probably faster to look things up in it. However...

I haven't been able to look at a copy of the Abridged version again, but the only explanation I can think of is that maybe the Intermediate version offers more root words, whereas the Abridged version lists more inflectional forms for a smaller selection of words?

Yes. The main thing for me is that the Middle Liddell and the Great Scott not only give more words (I sometimes read obscure things) but they also give more extensive articles for the words. I can get a better sense of a word's shades of meaning when I can look at more quotations and author citations. But the print editions can be slow to use, and nearly every day I give thanks to Perseus for speeding up my dictionary time.